At the end of a harrowing week for the country, Meek Mill dropped a hard-hitting new song called “Otherside of America.” Mill has had his own encounters with law enforcement in recent years: He spent five months in prison in a widely criticized 2017 ruling over technical violations from a years-old conviction. After outcry from thousands of fans and vocal support from Jay-Z and Philadelphia 76ers owner Michael Rubin, he was released in April 2018 and has since become an outspoken activist for reform in the criminal justice system.
Few of those specifics are in “Otherside of America” — which opens with a typically inflammatory passage from President Donald Trump — but the spirit certainly is. Read the lyrics and listen to the song below.
(Donald Trump)
What do you have to lose?
You’re living in poverty
Your schools are no good
You have no jobs
58% of your youth is unemployed
What the hell do you have to lose?
(Meek Mill)
Reporting live from the other side of America
Mama let me sip the 40, I was just a shorty
Then I started spittin’ godly, and they said ‘record me’
I feel like this shit was for me, this shit just my story (facts)
Yeah, uh
Jumped off the porch
I got a Porsche, won’t take it back
I’m on the block with the killers and I’m holding my own of course (yeah, check check)
I seen my mom and dad separate, ain’t talking divorce (talkin divorce)
Said daddy was livin’ by the fire, and he die by the torch (check check)
I’m where the AKs is, we like the Bebe’s Kids
Ain’t have a daddy, I listened to suckas the same way that Ray Ray did
I’m totin’ smithens and HKs and I just was a grade A kid
Ain’t have no god and we grew up with hittas and did everything they said
Pullin out the block, we spinnin’ that
Run in the spot, we gettin’ that
Give us some work, we flippin’ that
I’m hitting from jail, they ain’t hittin back
I need a lawyer, money for commissary
And nobody ain’t sendin’ that
I’m in my cell like “when I get out, I’m makin’ a movie, no Cinemax” (who!)
Yeah
Back home and I’m fresh on bail
Phone chirpin’ it was next in tell
Block poppin’ it was extra sales
Big dogs they ain’t showin’ remorse
I was beggin’ just to catch a sale
Same block we was goin’ to war
I was prayin’ I ain’t catch a shell (check)
We was starvin’ for a thousand nights
Livin’ like we tryin’ to die tonight
Gloc 40 sound like dynamite
I was fuckin up my cop money
Sellin’ soap like it’s China white
OG’s said “you fuckin’ the block up”
I was mad I was tryna fight
N**** we hungry
Mama at work, daddy he dead
N**** we lonely
Stomach growlin’ like an AMG, goin’ to bed
We hungry
Uzi on me, all my friends are dead
N**** we lonely
Reporting live from the other side of America
Reporting live from the other side
Same corner where my brothers died
Livin’ like we ain’t got care
Told my mama I ain’t dying here
40 on me I ain’t buying beer
Ain’t have a will, now I’m flying Lear
Bunch of felons on the jet with me
Make a movie like it’s Con Air
Started off in the basement
Now it’s rooftops and LeBron there
Still fighting open cases
Out on bail, n**** but it’s my year
Summertime it get cold out
Heater on me like a Montclair
Closet bigger than my old house
Thinking ‘bout it, I was fine there
Came out the dirt
Dedicated, I was makin’ it work
Medicated I was takin them percs
Devastated when my n****s got murked
Educated, had to get to it first
I knew trappin’ it would get me in jail
Playin’ with pistols it would get me a Herse
But I ain’t give a fuck, send me to church! (who!)
They gotta kill me in traffic
I ain’t with none of this rap shit
I’ve been tryna run from these caskets
All of this pain that’s in me n****
You don’t want none of this action
Go get some money and feed the fam
Cause this is a fuckin disaster (check)
We was starvin’ for a thousand nights
Livin’ like we tryin’ to die tonight
Gloc 40 sound like dynamite
I was fuckin up my cop money
Sellin’ soap like it’s China white
OGs said “you fuckin’ the block up”
I was mad I was tryna fight
N**** we hungry
Mama at work, daddy he dead
N**** we lonely
Stomach growlin’ like an AMG goin’ to bed
We hungry
Uzi on me, all my friends are dead
N**** we lonely
Reporting live from the other side of America
(Meek Mill)
I always dreamed to be on CNN to be able to express myself and speak for the voiceless young men of America. The first step I would say: I grew up in America in a ruthless neighborhood where we are not protected by police, we grew up in ruthless environments, we grew up around murder, you see murder, you see seven people die a week, I think you would probably carry a gun yourself. Would you?
(Michael Smerconish)
Uh, yeah, I probably would.